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Washington: One is a former cycling champion and world-famous sports doping cheat. The other is an Olympic gold medallist and a favoured mouthpiece for the US anti-trans movement.
So when Lance Armstrong and Caitlyn Jenner decided to sit down for Armstrong’s new podcast series examining the issue of transgender athletes, fairness in sport and so-called cancel culture, it was always likely to be interesting.
Lance Armstrong celebrates as he crosses the finish line and wins the 17th stage of the 91st Tour de France in 2004.Credit: Patrick Kovarik
“I think this should be a wonderful interview because you know what: you’re a world champion,” began Jenner, who won gold in the 1976 Montreal Olympics as biologically male decathlete Bruce Jenner, decades before she transitioned in 2015.
Armstrong was indeed a world champion, who won the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times – only to be stripped of all his titles in 2012 after an investigation found he used performance-enhancing drugs throughout his career.
Ten years later, the now 51-year-old re-emerged on Twitter to announce over the weekend that he would be weighing in on the issue of athletic fairness and suggested that he might be “cancelled” for his views.
Caitlyn Jenner in Los Angeles.Credit: Unique Nicole
“Have we really come to a time and place where spirited debate is not only frowned upon, but feared? Where people’s greatest concern is being fired, shamed or cancelled?” he pondered, with a video promoting his new podcast series.
“As someone all too familiar with this phenomenon, I feel I’m uniquely positioned to have these conversations.”
It didn’t take long for the pile-on to come. Some, such as Matthew Dowd, a political consultant and former chief strategist for the 2004 Bush-Cheney presidential campaign, noted: “We live in a world where many lack mirrors.”
Others, such as US journalist Victoria Brownworth were far more direct, tweeting: “Man who was stripped of all his competitive awards for years of cheating in his sport thinks he’s uniquely qualified to claim the tiny number of trans women athletes (fewer than 100 in the US) has unfair advantage and claims it – not doping – is THE issue in sport today. Sit down.”
And Twitter’s own Community Notes function, which was created so the social media company could combat misinformation, simply noted: “Lance Armstrong was not ‘cancelled’.
“Armstrong was the most dominant and successful professional cyclist in history, until 2013 when he was found to have been doping and was stripped of his titles and awards. Armstrong himself later admitted to cheating for over a decade.”
Despite the dubious start, the podcast nonetheless spent an hour delving into what has become the biggest culture wars debate ahead of next year’s US presidential election.
Armstrong began by talking about his personal connection to the issue: learning six months ago that the pilot who has flown his family around for years was transgender and about to transition.
“Frankly I was ashamed of my initial reaction,” he admitted. “It was my wife who said: ‘I want you to walk through this journey with them’, and so I did.
Caitlyn Jenner has joined Lance Armstrong for his new podcast discussing the issue of transgender athletes, fairness in sport and so-called cancel culture.Credit: Instagram
“Then we have, now, which is so topical, and you’re reading about it almost daily, this issue of trans in sport … and it’s touched my sport of cycling.”
With that, Jenner, an outspoken Republican, weighed in with her views, which have caused some consternation among sections of the LGBTQ community, while at the same time, have made the 73-year-old a darling among sections of the right-wing movement.
The former candidate for California governor highlighted the vexed debate surrounding Lia Thomas, who was the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I national championship, as part of the reason behind her position: “No trans women in women’s sport.”
Thomas competed in the University of Pennsylvania’s men’s swim team from 2017 to 2020, but after completing two years of hormone replacement therapy, controversially competed on its women’s swimming team from 2021 to 2022, which critics say gave her an unfair advantage.
Lia Thomas won the 500-yard freestyle title at the 2022 US NCAA championships, trouncing two Olympians.Credit: AP
Last July, after months of debate, the world swimming governing body ruled that only swimmers who transitioned before the age of 12 could compete in women’s events, effectively preventing Thomas from competing at the same level.
“I’ve been very clear from the beginning: I am all about fairness, not equity, and sport has to be fair,” said Jenner, who married Kris Kardashian in 1991, making her, Jenner, one of the central figures in the reality TV show Keeping Up with the Kardashians.
“I want to protect women, I want to protect women in sport and I want to protect women’s spaces in sports. If you give an inch, they’re going to take a mile … so just say no.”
Armstrong’s new podcast series was released as the US rounded out Pride Month, the four-week-long June celebration of the LGBTQ community, which also commemorates the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall uprising, which served as a catalyst for the gay rights movement.
From left: Bruce Jenner (before transitioning as Caitlyn Jenner) with Kim, Kourtney, Khloe and Kris Kardashian.
But just as Stonewall marked a turning point for LGBTQ civil rights in the US, the country now faces what President Joe Biden describes as “another inflection point” whereby almost 600 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced this year alone – from attempts to block trans participation in sports to preventing people from using public bathrooms consistent with their gender identity. Of those bills, about 75 have been enacted into law.
“While we must always celebrate our hard-won progress, this moment also demands that we be clear-eyed about the present,” Vice President Kamala Harris said at a party fundraiser in New York on Monday after the state hosted its annual Pride Parade this weekend.
“A law in Tennessee targets transgender children who will lose access to health care they need. A law in Florida silences our teachers – people who are in the noblest of professions, dedicating their lives to teaching our children – who now have to worry that they could lose their job if they have a family photograph on their classroom desk. A law in Idaho that criminalises doctors and nurses who provide life-saving gender-affirming care, a law that could sentence medical providers to prison for up to 10 years.”
Caitlyn Jenner before transitioning in 2015 was an Olympic gold medal winning track star, Bruce Jenner.
With about 17 months until the next presidential election, many are now bracing themselves for the debate to get even more divisive in the US.
“It’s taken on a life of its own,” Jenner said.
Armstrong added that cancel culture meant people were now afraid to talk about contentious topics “whether it’s the trans issue or the LGBTQ conversation more broadly, or abortion, or guns”.
“I know that you are not a fan of cancel culture, but I’m comfortable with that because I’ve been that person,” he said, referring to the backlash he faced after he admitted to blood doping throughout his cycling career.
“Are you still that person?” Jenner asked.
“Maybe to some,” he replied. “I’ve handled my situation the way I’ve chosen to handle it, and frankly I’m very proud of how I’ve handled the situation.”
Jenner was sympathetic, ending in her trademark matter-of-fact fashion.
“Life’s a big shit sandwich,” she said, “and every once in a while you’ve got to take a big bite.”
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